One Hundred Dollars a Month

For the fifth week in a row I got together with Mrs. HB to do some grocery shopping and prepare some meals for the upcoming week. Those are the pictures you’ll see when you scroll through this post as well a few Mrs. HB sent that she took during the week.

So here we go… week 5 in her own words:

This past week has been a little frustrating. All this effort and not much to show as far as savings… Mr, HB says “There is always something.” Meaning expenses always pop up and for me they have been lately. I think they always have been there but because I was robbing Peter to pay Paul I didn’t notice as much.

Last week I had to pay for me and HB boy to go on a Boy Scouts camping trip, plus another one for later in the year, $320 vanished! Plus his baseball fees were $290, and at the start of this week the vacuum broke and I had to pay $250 to get it fixed. It just seems like I will never create that nest egg.

But on the positive, I have no debt. See the cut up credit cards? This past week I cut them all up and cancelled them! I feel a little less on the grid. I still have the card with frequent flyer miles because I want to use those, but it has a zero balance as well. I was so excited to present Mr. HB the cut up cards….BUT… I had forgotten I hadn’t told him I HAD them. Oops! He was a little upset.

I guess not telling is the same as lying and I know that, but I was justifying what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. And true, it wasn’t technically, but it was hurting me. Honestly I felt the guilt and the stress of hiding those cards. So now I have none of that and no worries. Mr. HB is very happy and proud that I cut and cancelled all those cards.

The hillbilly kids are also getting in on this revolution. They ask me all the time “Is that in your budget?” And they are paying for things that aren’t in my budget, if they REALLY want them.

HB boy even suggested repurposing the OJ can as a drinking cup. Warms my heart! 🙂

Groceries have been becoming a little more routine in the way that they are following an expense pattern. On average they are running $140 at Costco and $50 at the grocery store each trip. I would like to get Costco down to $100 and not go every week.

I can’t believe I am saying that. It sounds like I’m spending too much when I used to spend no less than $300 a visit not to mention all the random stops here and there. No telling how much I was spending because I wasn’t really keeping track. I also repurposed my coveted Folgers container and filled it with grocery brand coffee this week. 🙂

As far as my lunch and coffee thing, I took my lunch to work three times this past week and carried coffee 4 days in my thermos made with the new coffee press Mr. HB gave me. It was nice and I’m starting to really think about how I could have ever spent $4.35 on a cup of coffee 2 or 3 times a day in the first place. Not to mention the Diet Cokes… man they have gotten expensive out and about, with some places charging $2.25.

Slowly, I think I am getting a handle on this but still have a long ways to go. Next week Ms. Mavis is weaning me a little by allowing me to go grocery shopping all by myself! LOL, but I have to say I am a little nervous. Keep your figures crossed!

~Mrs. Hillbilly